Hypoxia upregulates hepatic angiopoietin-2 transcription to promote the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma

Figure 1 Dynamic expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α and angiopoietin-2 during hepatocarcinogenesis in rats. A: Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 48) were used to establish dynamic hepatocarcinogenesis models; B: Model livers subjected to morphological changes in liver sections were examined by hematoxylin and eosin staining and divided into normal control (n = 12), hepatocyte degeneration (n = 18) at the early stage, liver cirrhosis or precancerosis (n = 9) at the middle stage, and rat hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 9) at the later stage; C: Corresponding liver hypoxia-inducible factor-1α expression by immunohistochemical (SP × 100); D: Corresponding liver angiopoietin-2 expression by immunohistochemical (SP × 100). 2-FAA: 2-fluorenylacet-amide; Ang-2: Angiopoietin-2; HIF-1α: Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α; NC: Normal control; HD: Hepatocyte degeneration; LC: Liver cirrhosis; PC: Precancerosis; rHCC: Rat hepatocellular carcinoma.